Paul Ryan's mountain-climbing

GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan has gotten a great deal of flak since telling a radio interviewer late last month that he ran a marathon more than an hour faster than his actual time. He later corrected the record.

But in the wake of that episode, another Ryan comment – made to this newspaper three years ago -- is drawing scrutiny and media attention.

In an April 2009 profile of Ryan, I wrote that the congressman has “made close to 40 climbs of Colorado’s ‘fourteeners’ (14,000-foot peaks),” based on what Ryan told me in an interview.

Some are questioning the plausibility of that claim because of the time and dedication required.

There also has been some confusion about what Ryan said.

In the interview, Ryan did not claim to have climbed close to 40 different “fourteeners,” as has been reported by some. (Colorado has more than fifty 14,000-foot peaks).

He said he made close to 40 climbs (climbing some peaks more than once).

For the record, here are the relevant comments Ryan made in the interview:

Ryan: “My mom was very outdoorsy … We spent our summers doing backpacking trips in the (Colorado) back-country, you know, Snowmass Lake, Capital Peak, spent all our summers doing that … went all over White River National Forest, just the whole Elk range. I mean I’ve climbed every fourteener in that range and the three around there … So I got into climbing fourteeners when I was 12, with my brother, Stan. My mom got us into that."

Question: "How many fourteeners have you climbed? Or how many times?"

Ryan: "38. I think that’s my last count."

Question: "Those are just climbing peaks that are 14,000 feet?"

Ryan: "I’ve done it 38 times. … I’ve done 38, but I think the number of unique peaks is something like twenty… no, no it’s like thirty or something like that. I counted it up a year or two ago."

Question: "Most of those in Colorado?"

Ryan: "All of them are in Colorado. So I think I’ve climbed like 28 (peaks), and I’ve done it 38 times, because I’ve done a number of them a few times. So I was, you know, kind of into that stuff.”

Ryan’s spokesman declined comment on the matter.

About Craig Gilbert

Craig Gilbert is the Journal Sentinel's Washington Bureau Chief and writes the Wisconsin Voter blog about politics and elections.